2024 NBA Finals: 5 questions about a Celtics-Mavericks matchup that will be worth the wait

After a few blink-and-you-missed-it conference finals, we now come to the final approach to the NBA mountaintop. The Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics will face the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals, which will take place at TD Garden at 8:30 pm ET on Thursday, June 6.

If you’ve looked at a calendar recently, you may have noticed that “Thursday, June 6” is a full week away. We here at Yahoo Sports are committed to helping you pass this time (we’re very thoughtful like that) and will be offering all kinds of writing, podcasts and videos to help you prepare for the 2023-24 NBA Grand Finals. season.

For now, though, we offer a little amuse-bouche – not a full preview of the series, but something to nibble on before dinner is served. Here are some things I’m thinking about as we prepare for Celtics-Mavericks with the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy on the line:

Have the Celtics warmed up yet?

Yes, Boston was the beneficiary of some luck in the Eastern Conference playoffs. A series of injuries meant the Celtics opened the playoffs against a Miami Heat team without longtime nemesis Jimmy Butler; advanced to face a Cleveland Cavaliers team without rim protector Jarrett Allen and eventually All-Star point guard Donovan Mitchell and backup point guard Caris LeVert; and advanced to the conference finals against an Indiana Pacers team that played the final 2.5 games without All-NBA facilitator Tyrese Haliburton.

But for everyone the speech about where Boston’s East adventure is among the most Finals-friendly paths in NBA history, it’s worth noting that the savviest, most experienced, and all-around best C team we’ve seen this season did what it needed to do to do: that is, win three series in just two games above the minimum.

The first loss came on a night when Miami scored franchise playoff record for 3-point marks; the second came in an atypical performance that saw them post their second worst defensive rating of the entire season. Other than that, they have been very good, outscoring their opponents by more than 10 points per 100 possessions in the postseason; they even shined in difficult moments, outperforming their opponents by 18 points in 19 minutes when the margin was within five in the final five minutes.

It’s one thing to take a break; it’s another to take advantage of them. The Celtics did that and it took them back to the sport’s biggest stage…and faced an incredibly dangerous opponent.

Can Boston’s phalanx of wing defenders slow down Luka and Kyrie?

Speaking of “very good”…

That’s what Nico Harrison, Jason Kidd and Co. had in mind when the Mavericks traded a pair of rotation players, a first-round pick and two second-round picks to pair Kyrie Irving with Luka Dončić at the 2023 NBA trade deadline : An attack that can overwhelm even the best defense in the business with creating accurate shots and hard shots.

Dallas’ dynamic duo overcame Minnesota in the West finals, alternating killer stretches – Kyrie’s 24-point first half and Luka’s 15-point fourth quarter in Game 1; Kyrie’s 13-point final frame and Luka’s Game 2 game-winner; Luka’s third place with 11 points and Kyrie’s fourth place with 14 points in Game 3; Luka’s opening 20-point salvo and Kyrie’s 15-point second to open Game 5 – marked by the types of shots, passes, off-the-dribble moves and off-script bursts of brilliance that few players in the world can match.

The playmaking partnership proved to be too much for the Clippers, Thunder and Timberwolves to manage: The Mavs outscored their opponents by 9.1 points per 100 possessions with his two Star Guards on the ground on his run through the West. Those opponents, however, didn’t have Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum — a full suite of top-tier wing options — available at the point of attack.

Will Luka and Kyrie be able to create as much separation to cook for themselves, or break down the defense, draw help and create open shots for teammates, against a fleet of top-notch perimeter defenders? Or will Boston’s ability to not only throw strong, physical defenders at them, but also switch one or two more to them during a possession, disrupt the remarkable pace on the ball that Dončić – the best player in this series, recently -came out absolutely ripping the hearts out of the Wolves – and did Irving develop?

Is Kristaps Porziņģis ready to start?

By the time Game 1 ends, it will have been 39 days since Porziņģis last spoke at an NBA game. If he is able to continue the progress he supposedly made Since suffering a left soleus strain, he will return to action not only in the biggest games of Boston’s season, but also in the biggest games of his career – uncharted territory for a player who, in nine NBA seasons, has never prepared for a game after the end of the first round.

Starting to run after a nearly six-week layoff is a difficult task in itself. Doing so in this context – under the brightest lights the sport has to offer, with your team not only favored but also expected to win the title, against the Dallas team that negotiated for you to be the missing piece of the championship puzzle and then sent you away when they no longer thought you could be that? This is a horrible a lot to deal with.

If Porziņģis is ready to deal with this – if he is close to being fully operational and walking – then he could finally be the missing piece in the puzzle that prevents Dallas to win it all. Delicious delicious iron clothes.

A reinstated Porziņģis allows Boston to re-establish its optimal spacing on offense, removing centers Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II from Dallas – where they spent most of the last month and a half stifling the half-court attacks of the Clippers, Thunder and Timberwolves – so that don’t give up on a steady diet of pick-and-pop 3s. He offers an interior answer if Dallas starts switching screens: a walking mismatch who may not have been able to consistently punish smaller defenders on the block when in a Mavericks uniform, but looked damn good doing so in Celtic green. .

On the other end, Porziņģis provides high-quality rim protection and auxiliary length behind the starting defensive line, forming a Boston unit that finished the regular season third in defensive efficiency even more petty. The C’s allowed 2.8 fewer points per 100 with the 7-foot Latvian in floor.

Dallas, of course, just summarily dispatched a pair of top-five defenses supported by gigantic shot blockers, and features devastating isolation scorers capable of making opposing goliaths look downright foolish after forcing a mismatch. You can bet Luka will try to hit his old running buddy on the switches, forcing Porziņģis to prove his left calf is healthy. Boston will have to hope that 39 days of rehab work makes the big man appear agile enough to keep up on the perimeter — and stay away from Dončić’s ever-increasing highlights.

Is this Jayson Tatum’s moment?

Tatum has drawn criticism in some quarters for his underwhelming shooting efficiency this postseason — 44.2% from the field, just 29% from 3-point range — and for a shooting diet that can often deviate too much for pull-up jumpers. up contested and also away from aggressive attacks from the basket. But the 26-year-old remains the linchpin of Boston’s two-way offense, has been crashing the boards and distributing the ball at career-best levels in these playoffs, and is working on his third postseason averaging more than 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game; only Nikola Jokić (five postseasons) has more. It looks very impressive to me!

He is able to take control of games with his consistent shot creation, jump shots and plays to stretch the floor and fill gaps. In two meetings during the regular season – both Celtics victories – Tatum torched the Mavs with 39 points on 21 shots, 11 rebounds and five assists…

…and 32 points on 19 shots, eight rebounds and three assists:

Tatum has the strength to overcome Derrick Jones Jr.; the quickness to beat PJ Washington on the rebound; the balance, vision and touch to make Dallas pay for giving him daylight to drive or lift; and the physicality to finish among the Mavericks’ tall trees. This is it: the chance to take all these tools, all this experience, all the lessons learned from the myriad of successes and painful failures, and turn them into the kind of two-week sprint that could win you the biggest prize in sports…

Or is it Luka’s?

…if the other guy doesn’t get it first.

In the last seven games dating back to the Oklahoma City series, Dončić is average just under 32 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists per game in .651 true shot. He dismantled Minnesota’s league-best defense, sending Chris Finch and company scrambling through the menu for any answer they could find to slow him down…

…and ended up staring down the barrel of grim inevitability: with this guy, shooting that well with that a lot of trust, there is It is without certain coverage.

Luka led the NBA in scoring this season. He made the All-NBA First Team for five consecutive years; he has three top-five MVP finishes, including a third-place finish this season. He has won everywhere he has been and now has the chance to add the crown jewel to one of the most brilliant resumes you will see at age 25. He knocked off the No. 1 seed in the West and the No. 1 defense in the NBA. Eliminate the team that has been the best in the league since the October kickoff and you will take the throne and the crown that comes with it.